Photo: @shrinkingstephy / TikTok
The parenting community is questioning a mom whose German Shepherd supervises her young kids.
By Megan Quinn — Written on Jun 08, 2023
When parents say they have a babysitter, most people would assume that their children are being supervised by another human. However, one mother is confident in her “babysitter,” who is her pet dog, when she leaves her children under his supervision.
The mother claims that she is not afraid to leave her children alone to play outside while her German Shepherd is watching them.
Stephy Noonan sent shock waves through the parenting community on TikTok after posting a video of her three children playing by themselves in their front yard. The children, who all appear to be under the age of five, sit amongst a pile of toys on the edge of the yard — but Noonan is not concerned about her children's safety as they play by themselves since her German Shepard sits on the opposite side of the lawn, keeping an eye on them.
“My kids are good,” the mother captioned her video which has been viewed over 2 million times.
While German Shepards are known to be loyal protectors of their families and the dog is certainly capable of chasing away strangers, most people argued that he would be helpless should a speeding car drive by since the children are so close to the road.
“Beautiful dog but why on earth would you have those babies by the road with that big beautiful yard? The dog cannot help any out-of-control car,” one TikTok wrote, noting the proximity of the kids to the road. “Your German shepherd might protect them from strangers but not from a car not paying attention to the road. Please have them closer to you.”
Photo: @shrinkingstephy / TikTok
Other users were concerned that the dog may attack someone simply walking down the street, or even worse, the children when nobody was watching.
Noonan posted a follow-up video defending her decision and claiming that 'no children were harmed in the making of the video.'
As to why the kids were gathered close to the road, she shares that her five-year-old son decided to build his toy playhouse in that particular spot. “Sometimes five-year-olds make bad decisions. Just sometimes,” she says.
Noonan adds that she was actually the one looking after the children, not the dog, but couldn’t help but take a video of the precious moment of him watching out for them. “I had seen my German Shepard laying there watching my kids, and so I decided to take a video of it and make a TikTok,” she explains in the follow-up video.
“And just to set the record straight, the toy house was moved. So no children were harmed during the making of that video.”
Other TikTok users put the mom shamers to rest. “That TikTok was like 10 seconds and everyone judges your entire life and parenting. You’re doing awesome,” one user commented. “You don't need to explain yourself. You are doing great mama. German Shepards are amazing!” another user wrote.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.